Pompeii Archaeological Dig Chief Leads KLUV Group on Special Tour
By Casey Carr
Jan 20, 2017
Kevin Dicus is Professor of Archaeology at the Univesity of Oregon, and has been the chief of the largest Archaeological Dig at Pompeii since 2006. I went to summer camp with Kevin, he was a few years older and was the counselor everyone hoped they’d get. He’s one of those guys who just seemed destined for great things, and then he actually went out and did them.
Reconnecting in Rome
In November I hosted the KLUV World Tour‘s Oceania Cruise from Rome to Monte Carlo, and I reconnected with Kevin after 20 years. He’s in Rome for another year on a grant to write a book, and we spent a couple of days strolling Rome’s myriad neighborhood’s and ruins and cafes. Kevin is hilarious, his knowledge of the Ancient Roman Empire is encyclopedic, and listening to his stories and anecdotes is a blast.
There’s a reason he’s the face of Pompeii, if you’ve watched anything about Italian Archaeology in the last decade, they probably interviewed Kevin. His latest show on PBS, “Nero’s Sunken City” premiered last night (Wed Mar 29).
Knowing we had a KLUV Group traveling to Pompeii in 2017, I asked Kevin if he might be able to do something special for our travelers and he offered to, in fact, lead the tour himself! That group traveled last week and by all accounts, had a very special experience strolling the ancient avenues and ruins of Pompeii with the world’s foremost expert. “Kevin was fantastic. His knowledge and passion about what he does was the key to making this our favorite stop” said KLUV traveler Judy Gibbs. Adelisa Walker agrreed “We could not have had a better tour guide. He took us to places typical tours don’t go and the information he gave was so interesting/captivating. He answered all our questions and his talk about Pompeii triggered questions we would not known to ask if we have received the tour from a tour guide who is just reciting facts by rote. You could really see Kevin’s passion for his work and it was inspiring!”
I’m glad I got to reconnect with my old friend, and grateful that our clients got to have this one-of-a-kind experience. We hope to be able to pull this off again in the future, if Kevin happens to be in Italy when we have travelers there. But for now, touring Pompeii with Professor Kevin Dicus remains a singular experience that not many other people have had. Those who have had the priveledge, are names you would recognize like Tom Hanks, Leo Dicaprio and other luminaries.
Just another day on the #KLUVWorldTour!
~ Casey
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